NEW YORK—Happy the elephant will stay at the Bronx Zoo after New York state’s highest court on Tuesday ruled against an animal rights group that said she deserved some of the same rights as humans and should be freed.
In a 5–2 decision, the Albany-based Court of Appeals said the writ of habeas corpus, which allows people to be released from illegal custody, did not apply to Happy despite claims that the 51-year-old elephant shared many of the same cognitive abilities as humans.
